Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The Feiglin Manifesto, Part III

By Moshe Feiglin

Israel's largest newspaper, Yediot Achronot, recently askedMoshe Feiglin to write his manifesto for the State of Israel for the nextfour years. Read Parts I and 2 here

Gaza: Revoke the Oslo AccordsThere is no solution for Gaza if we do not understand that we are not colonialists and that Israel is our Land. I oppose endangering our soldiers in a ground assault on Gaza if we intend to subsequently exit the area. The fact that Israel continues to provide electricity and cash to those who target its citizens is completely unreasonable. Israel must engage in a Defensive Shield type of operation in Gaza (editor: in which Israeli forces re-captured areas of Judea and Samaria from which Oslo had dictated that they retreat) destroy the Hamas, restore security to southern Israel and return to the infinitely better situation that we had there prior to the Oslo Accords. Ultimately, Israel must relate to Gaza as it does to Judea and Samaria.

The Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza: Permanent ResidencyThe Land of Israel is our Land and we will never leave it. Israel must declare sovereignty over all parts of the Land that are in our hands, as the Likud Charter requires. Israel's Arabs enjoy all rights  even more than Israel's Jewish citizens. The Arabs living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza can be offered permanent residency status. This status will afford them full human rights and most of the services that the State of Israel gives its citizens. It will be forbidden to do to them what we did to our own brothers in Gush Katif. Israeli citizenship will be granted to those non-Jews who have tied their fate to Israel and who have proven their loyalty to the State. Those Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza who insist on voting for a parliament may do so in any one of the 22 amazing democracies that the Arab Nation has established since World War I.

The Iranian Threat: No Foreign InvolvementOne lesson of the Holocaust is that negation of the victims' legitimacy precedes actual physical destruction. The Holocaust of the Jews of Europe did not begin in 1939 when the war broke out. It began in 1933 when Hitler became chancellor of Germany and, as head of state, began to espouse his threats to destroy the Jews. When the war broke out, a question mark already hovered over the right of the Jews to exist.

When the leader of a sovereign nation prepares to destroy Israel and publicly declares his intentions, he negates our legitimacy. This is the correspondence that we see between Ahmadinijad's hate speeches and the accelerating process of de-legitimization of Israel in the Western world.

It is a fatal mistake to involve the world in the Iranian issue. If the world solves the problem, Israel will always be forced to pay for the right to breathe air on the face of the earth. He who threatens to destroy us loses his own right to exist. Think of how many lives would have been saved if the free world had understood this and killed Hitler before he embarked on World War II.

America: No Foreign AidIsrael should have foregone American foreign aid long ago. The foreign aid that Israel receives from America amounts to 4% of its GNP. Israel exports to America approximately one third more than it imports.

When America carries a debt of 16 trillion dollars, it is not reasonable that a much better-off country like Israel should expect donations. Israel's relationship with the US should be based on common interests and values between strategic partners.

Israel must demand the release of Jonathan Pollard and expel the US spies who fill our country.

We Still Have a Long Way to GoMy election to the Knesset is an important stage in the journey that began with the establishment of Zo Artzeinu and continued with the establishment of Manhigut Yehudit and our integration into the Likud. I do not know what role the Prime Minister will offer me. I am particularly interested in a position of influence in education, housing or security. But any position that will foster my efforts to advance the liberty, Jewish identity and meaning of the Jewish State are relevant.

My insistence on advancing my agenda from within the national ruling party was not the easy route to the Knesset. I could have been a Knesset Member long ago with a sectoral party that has no influence. In the face of the relentless zigzagging of Israeli politics and the embarrassing paucity of ideas in the ideological marketplace, my political opponents can also benefit from the contrast that my ideology provides.

I intend to help the Likud, the government and the Prime Minister  whom I respect - as much as possible. When the time comes to elect a new leader for the Likud, I plan to run once again in order to advance the Jewish liberty alternative for leadership of Israel.